


Breaking Dawn

by EvialRichardson



Category: Denis Dang, Nguyen Tran Trung Quan
Genre: M/M, Mental Breakdown, Mental Health Issues, Threats of Rape/Non-Con, but no my grammar is bad so my apologies, yes i did beta like a real translator should
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-14
Updated: 2020-08-11
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:13:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25203778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EvialRichardson/pseuds/EvialRichardson
Summary: I used to lock myself in a 12 square meter room. Every activity of mine was done in the dark. I was afraid of light.I wrappped myself with black clothes from head to toe when I went out. I never lifted my head to look at anyone. I was afraid of humans.Everytime something touched me, I got startled. Everything around me had no breath, they were lifeless. I was afraid of living things.I used to wake up in the middle of the night just to take a shower. I didn’t dare to look at my own reflection in the mirror. I was afraid of myself.I used to think, those were the most insane times of my life. Little did I know, I could get even crazier when I’m with him.
Relationships: Denis Dang/Nguyễn Trần Trung Quân
Kudos: 2





	1. Therapist

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [HỪNG SÁNG](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/646654) by Hàn Lãnh. 



> (ATTENTION: "Breaking Dawn" is posted only on AO3 under the account @EvialRichardson. If you encounter this work on any other websites, please let me know as soon as possible.)
> 
> (WARNING: Mentions of violence, rape and mental health issues. Consider carefully before reading.)
> 
> Genres: Translated work, fanfiction, criminal psychology, showbiz, angst.
> 
> Credit:  
> \- Author: Hàn Lãnh - @Han_Lanh on Wattpad  
> \- Translator: EvialRichardson - @EvialRichardson on AO3  
> \- Beta: EvialRichardson - @EvialRichardson on AO3
> 
> (NOTES: This is the English translation of the work "HỪNG SÁNG" written by Hàn Lãnh - a member of the LighterStar fanfiction page Liên Hoa Thượng Uyển Cung on Facebook, and an independent writer on Wattpad. Please read the notes at the beginning of each chapter.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I honestly have A LOT OF troubles translating this fanfiction.
> 
> Firstly, please note that I’m not a native English speaker, just an intermediate learner. And because the tenses in Vietnamese and English work VERY DIFFERENTLY, I had a hard time trying to fix the grammar mistakes I made while translating. But of course, I know that this chapter is still imperfect, so please let me know if you spot any errors when you read.
> 
> Secondly, the phrase “bác sĩ tâm lý” in Vietnamese can be anything among psychologist, psychiatrist, therapist, etc. And basing on what I’ve read,
> 
>  _“A therapist is a mental health care practitioner.”_ and _“Therapists are not licensed to prescribe medication.”_
> 
> Whilst,
> 
> _“A psychiatrist is a medically trained doctor. He or she has the goal of officially diagnosing what is behind your struggles, then offering you an individualised treatment plan. This will often (but not always) involve medication.”_
> 
> (harleytherapy.co.uk)
> 
> In this work, Denis is someone who has had many years of medical training. But he develops his own ways of helping patients getting better from mental issues and doesn’t follow suit the traditional methods, hence I call him a therapist.
> 
> Lastly, enjoy!

[Are you free tomorrow? Can you please arrange your schedule and meet me?]

A text message popped up at 2 in the morning. Denis glanced at the sender’s name, then replied curtly: “Sure”.

The “Typing...” symbol flickered on his phone’s screen. Denis didn’t avert his gaze, just kept on staring at it.

Typed, then deleted. Deleted, then typed again. Denis had been looking at his phone screen for over half an hour, and yet, he hadn’t received anything but the “Typing...” symbol. It blinked back at him, coldly.

After some more time, the screen automatically shut down. Denis turned it on again, just to find out the other person had finally stopped typing. Maybe he had fallen asleep. Or maybe, like Denis, he was doing nothing but staring vividly at the dark, empty space in front of his eyes.

-

At 6 in the morning, another text notification popped up.

[At what time are you free?]

[All day.] Denis texted back.

[Can I have breakfast with you?]

[Sure.]

-

It is 8 in the morning. Denis is standing before one of the highest buildings in the city centre. His tall and slender figure catching eyes of passersby. Wearing a clean white shirt and proper suit, Denis keeps his head down, gazing at his polished black shoes. His appearance as a whole is absolutely stunning.

Denis is beautiful. This might not be a suitable word to describe a man, but he truly is beautiful.

That perfect V-line jaw, that gorgeous straight, high-bridged nose. Those endearing eyes as deep as the ocean that you can’t stop sinking in. Those black eyes as sharp as a hawk’s that can peer straight through anyone’s soul.

Denis emits the seductive charm of a experienced, strong man. Yet the young, attractive feelings of youth still lingers.

He is the perfect combination of the unisex beauty and the charismatic attraction of a handsome man.

With short ash grey hair, he looks neat, elegant, yet somewhat artistic.

In their first appointment, Trung Quan thought he met the wrong person. This man does not look like a psychologist at all. More like a skillful artist silently hiding behind the dark curtains to be precise.

A black BMW X7 stops in front of Denis. Trung Quan opens the door and greets him.

“Come. I know a restaurant with really good food. Let’s head there.”

Denis smiles and steps into the car. That standard 40-degree smile is always hanging on his lips. Attractive, but distant.

Even though Trung Quan has put on a moderately thick layer of makeup, Denis can still spot the dark circles under his eyes. “You still have trouble sleeping?”, he asks.

“Yeah, but I’m getting better.” Trung Quan rubs his eyes a bit before taking the steering wheel and driving into the busy road.

In the busiest city of the whole country, roads are always filled with vehicles and traffic jams. Hence to drive in the early morning is no doubt a true form of torture.

Trung Quan looks at the long row of cars and motorbikes ahead, smiling bitterly: “Next time going out for breakfast, I won’t drive this far just for good food anymore. Having a full meal is enough.”

Denis doesn’t reply. He silently takes a small piece of chocolate out from the inside of his pocket, unwraps then gives it to Trung Quan.

Trung Quan glances at Denis’ hands. He always keep them fully covered in black gloves for unknown reasons. Biting down the question that he has always wanted to ask, Trung Quan smiles a bit and receives the piece of chocolate from Denis.

“Thanks. Do you always carry chocolate with you?” Trung Quan asks.

“Mn. It’s good for people like you.” Denis answers softly.

People like you, means people with mental health problems.

Denis has been Trung Quan’s therapist for two months. The singer suffers from depression due to over-abundance of stress. Stress from work and from relationships problems. Everything comes pouring down on him at a time, making Trung Quan unable to remain a care-free singer like who he used to be.

Denis is a good doctor who truly cares about his patient. Or at least, that is what Trung Quan thinks.

As Denis is always there for him when he calls.

Their relationship has escalated from mere doctor and patient to something much closer. Or at least, that is what Trung Quan thinks.

Trung Quan can freely tell Denis everything that’s on his mind or that’s bothering him. Everything. From pressure at work or troubles in love life. And Denis will just listen silently and attentively. He doesn’t interfere Trung Quan’s stories with pieces of advice like many other therapists do.

But Denis did once tell him not to bottle up any negative emotions. He told Trung Quan that he ought to just release them, let them burst out.

There are many ways to do so. And the most effective one is exercising.

So Trung Quan usually hangs out with Denis. A lot. Having a nice meal at a good restaurant in the city. Going to a basketball court nearby for a match or heading to the swimming pool...

Doesn’t matter what they do, Denis always gives Trung Quan that sense of peacefulness, of security and being protected.

For a person who works in the entertainment industry, every move, every word must be considered carefully before acting out. Because if they are not cautious enough, anything can be made into a horrifying scandal once the haters get their hands on those mistakes.

Denis is secretive and quiet. Too quiet to the point that sometimes, Trung Quan feels as if he is talking to a block of stone. Or to be more precise, a block of jade. Gorgeous, glistening, but cold and distant.

“You still seem happy and unbothered despite that lack of sleep huh?” Denis asks, glancing at the traffic lights that has just turned red.

“I’m probably in a better mood ‘cuz I get to have breakfast with you?” Trung Quan teases, letting out a vibrant laughter.

Trung Quan always has that relaxed manners, barely serious. No one would have thought that this man is suffering from mental health problems. If one day, Trung Quan express publicly that he has major depressive disorder, people will just jump in and constantly shame him, calling him a pretentious attention whore.

Even Trung Quan himself never for once thought that he had problems.

It all with insomnia. He couldn’t get rid of the chaotic and distorted images running rampant inside his mind. They kept him awake, tortured him every night. So Trung Quan began to take stimulants in order to sleep better.

His body got significantly thinner. His work was constantly disrupted. Scandal after scandal happened, never giving him a rest.

And the newest rumour, stating that Trung Quan is gay, is now being discussed everywhere on social medias and on newspapers, on magazines...

When he saw the news, Trung Quan just huffed out a laugh.

The person who he once loved so deeply, those who he used to consider best friends, those who were once great colleagues, they sold him out.

After that whole chain of horrible events happened, his manager noticed that his mental state was getting worse and worse, so she demanded him to go see a therapist.

She introduced Denis to him. Trung Quan couldn’t just avoid her words forever, so he went to see the grey hair man, with the sole purpose of easing his manager’s worries.

But, as if Denis was a drug that Trung Quan got addicted to, he met Denis once, then got tempted, and kept on seeing the man after that.

“You should spend more time taking care of yourself. I can see that you’ve gotten fatter than before.”

“...”

Being sarcastic towards his patient is, perhaps, Denis’ favourite thing to do.

“Tell me, is it problems in relationships or pressure at work this time?” Denis inquires.

“I feel like I met the wrong therapist. No doctor treat their patient like you do.” After a moment of silence, Trung Quan answers.

“Really? I’m very much interested in that doctor you’re mentioning. Would you mind introducing them to me?”

“...”

“You should be a lawyer.” After a while, Trung Quan finally concludes.

“And you should be an extremely famous idol, standing at the top of your career but not a mediocre singer like what you are right now.”

“Why so?” Trung Quan shoots Denis a confusing look. But deep in his eyes, he can’t hide the happiness of being complimented.

“Because you’re a fool. If you were better than everyone else, no one would’ve spoken anything about that foolishness of yours. But because you are not as good as anyone, they can feel free to slander you however they want.”

Denis gazes deeply into Trung Quan’s eyes, the gaze that could look straight through the deepest and darkest thoughts that Trung Quan has been struggling to hide inside his mind.

Trung Quan quickly averts his eyes. The traffic lights turn green, and he focuses on driving again.

He is scared of Denis’ eyes. But yet, he yearns for them.

Because even though there are things that Trung Quan never speaks out, those eyes can still reach through the farthest and darkest corners of his soul, can still understand the secrets that Trung Quan has consistently been so desperate to keep buried.


	2. The First Case

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because the police systems in countries are different from each other, I tried to translate the departments' names and positions' titles as accurately as possible. But still, please leave a comment and let me know if you spot any mistakes.
> 
> Hope you enjoy this chapter!

It is late at night. Despite being draped in a thick curtain of darkness, the city still bustles with life. Neon lights flicker and advertising signs shine brightly, making the water below sparkles with luminous reflections. There is a long river that runs through the city centre. Following its bank to the suburban area nearby, a vast empty field opens up, reaching to the end of the sky. An abandoned and unfinished building sits admist the tall grass.

In the pitch darkness, the screeching sound of rope rubbing on rusty metal will send chills down anyone’s spine upon the first second of hearing.

Phuong Anh grits her teeth, desperately trying not to let any sound escape. She scrapes the rope that is tying her wrists together hard against that rusted iron piece behind her back.

That unpleasant sound coming from the act tortures her pathetically weak mind with headaches. Tears unwillingly roll down, further staining her already damp cheeks.

Her hopes falter more as every second passes by. Still, despite being heavily injured and covered in blood that won’t stop seeping from those wounds on her body, Phuong Anh does not stop, desperately trying to break free.

Because she understands, this is her one and only chance.

In the desolate field of reeds, a gentle breeze passes by, threading its way through the tall grass and making nasty whizzing sounds. The wind carries that night’s frigidness, sending chills down to the depth of her bones and tug down on each and every of her nerve string.

Sitting there, Phuong Anh tries to curl herself into a ball, wishing to appear as small as possible. She hopes the tall grass will hide her, shield her from the outside world.

She can hear it. The sound of a rusted iron rod being dragged along, the sound of each and every step heading towards her direction, the sugary sound of that man’s voice calling out to her.

“Honey! Where are you? Won’t you stop hiding from me. You’re breaking this fragile heart of mine, don’t you know that?”

Phuong Anh covers her mouth, trying not to let any of that panicked and pitiful crying sound spills through her gritted teeth. Her mind clogged up in fear, unable to think properly.

She wants to kill him. She wants to use that rusted metal rod he has always tortured her with to kill him. She must make him feel it, feel the unbearable pain that he brought her. She cannot die so easily like this. Cannot let him keep on tormenting her like this.

-

“The victim’s name is Nguyen Phuong Anh. 22-year-old. A final-year student at the University of Economics. Came from the C province to this city for her studies. Described as an intemperate person. Didn’t have a very good relationship with her classmates. Constantly had multiple affairs with different men. First autopsy results indicates that the victim had been sexually abused, her private part was brutally invaded by a metal tool. Therefore her genital area was heavily infected. Multiple wounds and bruises covered her body, showing that she had been hit many times with a metal rod. She had been suffocated to death, before the murderer torn her clothes off and dumped her body into the river.”

Having finished his report, Trinh Vu takes a moment to glance around the conference room.

35-year-old, having been a police officer for over 10 years. Trinh Vu had just been promoted to the position of Deputy Chief of the Criminal Investigation Bureau not long ago before this perverted case slapped him right in the face. Up until now, he still does not know whether to feel glad or disgusted about this fact.

Looking at those familiar yet distant faces before his eyes, Trinh Vu cannot help but feel a sense of despondency.

Criminals nowadays are getting more and more insidious, yet those stubborn senior officers of his department still stick to those old-fashioned ways of investigating. Everytime a creative suggestion for improvement is brought up, they shut it down immediately, claiming those methods to be impractical.

Now then, look at this case. The murderer didn’t leave even the slightest trace behind. The victim had been dead for three days until her body was found, and that gave the murderer enough time to flee if they wanted to. If their department just keep on using theese outdated means of investigation, then when this case is finally brought to light, then when this case is finally brought to light, that perverted killer would have done slaughtering more people.

“At the scene where the body was discovered, no suspicious objects or people were present. So in conclusion, it is probable that the body drifted from a nother part of the river down here.” Putting down the long rule he has been using to point to the board behind, Trinh Vu sits back down.

“Does anyone have any suggestions?” He takes a sip from his water bottle before glancing around.

Over a dozen of uniform-wearing police officers sit in complete silence.

After a long while, the eldest one of them speaks up: “I think that the murderer is one of the victims’s former lovers. Aren’t we investigating along the S river’s bank? Just take a list of her exes’ photos and ask those people who live near the river to see if anyone of them was spotted near the area.”

Trinh Vu makes no effort to try and hide that miserable smile hanging on his mouth: “It was possible that Nguyen Phuong Anh had been captured and abused for a really long time, yet no one suspected anything or minded to file a missing person report. And now you think that the murderer would just let people see and remember his face so easily like that?”

-

A 3-hour long conference came to an end with no useful information to be made except for those that had already been gathered from the crime scene. Trinh Vu leaned back against his chair, and let it roll around freely. His mind empty, unable to produce any coherent thought.

Suddenly, an ingenious idea popped up. Trinh vu bolted up straight and scrambled around the messy table for his phone. Hastily looking through his contact list, he did not hesitate to dial that one specific number.

“This is Doctor Denis’ office speaking.” A soft female voice came from the other side.

“May I ask if Doctor Denis is present?” Trinh Vu asked.

“Right now he is busy dealing with a patient. Can I help you with anything?” The woman asked, monotonously.

“I’m Trinh Vu, his brother’s friend. We met to discuss some private confidential materials last time. So I’d like to meet up with him again to speak more on that matter.” Trinh Vu kept his patience and answered with clarity.

“Certainly. After he finishes his work, I will tell him to contact you.” The woman politely replied.

“Alright.”

The line cut off, and a sense of discomfort promptly spreaded through Trinh Vu’s body. That unpleasant feeling of finding a way out yet do not know how to walk through it made Trinh Vu absolutely uncomfortable. Even the idea of having a lunch break did not interest him like usual. Looking through every piece of information they had gathered up until this moment, the more Trinh Vu read, the more he realized that what Denis told him on their last meeting made sense.

His phone rang. Finally, the call he had been awaiting.

“You looking for me?” Denis’ deep voice came from the other side, he went straight up to the point.

“Do you still recognize me? We met last time at your brother’s birthday party. You told me a bit about how a psychiatric patient can also commit crimes.” Trinh Vu could not help but to feel extremely estatic. He held on to their conversation as if he was drifting and Denis was his only anchor. “Can we meet up and discuss further about the topic?”

“Ah, about that, I thought I made myself clear, didn’t I? I’m a doctor, a private doctor. I’m not a police officer, and I certainly do not work for the Government. So if you want to consult my opinions, let’s talk about pricing first. If you are willig to pay a fine amount of money, perhaps I’ll accept your request.”

As if suddenly dunk in cold water, Trinh Vu felt all of his joy vanished at once. When he met Denis’ brother last time, the man did tell him the fact: Denis is extremely mercenary.

The thoughts of looking for Denis’ help and taking the shortcut in this investigation were just merely his own idea. The Police Department for sure would never pay for this. And Trinh Vu wouldn’t want to spend his own money on something that he himself was not even sure would end up with fine results.

“Can’t you regard your brother’s good friend a bit?” Trinh Vu shamelessly tried to pull on his relationships.

“Alright.” And not leaving Trinh Vu a single second of joy, he immediately added. “Tell my brother to pay them.”

“Can you not be so harsh?”

“Just take a look at my family circumstances. If I keep on having regards and being compassionate towards every single person I know, what would I be living on now?”

His voice sounds absolutely heartless. Trinh Vu finds those word sarcastic.

Without a second thought, he hanged up.

On the other side, Denis looked at the shutdown screen. One corner of his lips lifted up, forming a devilish smirk, as he softly murmured to himself: Seems interesting.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading, hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please let me know if I made any mistakes.
> 
> Lots of love!


End file.
